3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1980s That Quietly Shaped a Generation

Music is often inspired by real-life events. Maybe it’s a breakup, or maybe something tragic happened in the life of a songwriter. It’s all fair to put in the lyrics for a track. But sometimes it’s not life that always impacts art. Sometimes it’s art that impacts life.

And it’s that dynamic we wanted to highlight below. We wanted to explore three songs from back in the day that helped to shape the cultural landscape. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 1980s that quietly shaped a generation.

“867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone from ‘Tommy Tutone 2’ (1981)

Never before or since has a phone number meant so much to popular music. But in the 1980s, thousands of people rushed to pay phones to see if Jenny was really on the other end of the line after dialing the seven digits that Tommy Tutone made so famous in 1981. Conversations were had into the night about Jenny, people debated whether or not she really existed and whether or not she would ever answer the phone. How many quarters were spent hoping Jenny would be there to say hello? The world may never know.

“I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow from ‘The Last Of The Mohicans’ (1982)

That guitar riff, that drum beat. Those vocal harmonies. This is a song that gets stuck in your brain, well, as candy gets stuck in your teeth. Indeed, Bow Wow Wow had a whole country salivating over sweets in the mid-to-late 1980s. Everyone wanted candy. Everyone felt bold enough to sing about it. But more than anything, we all just wanted to participate in the sweet, sticky melody that this one-hit wonder provided. Even today, we still want a piece of it.

“Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood from ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ (1983)

In the 1980s, new sounds popped up all over the place. All of a sudden, eerie synthesizers started to take over recording studios. And Frankie Goes To Hollywood was at the top of the list of artists taking advantage of the new movement. Frankie’s sexually charged 1983 single “Relax” was a cornucopia, a cacophony of synth music. Listening to it was like falling into a giant bed of satin sheets. One that would take a decade, or so, to get out of!

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